Thursday, April 7, 2016

Predictors of Perceived Male Partner Concurrency among Women at Risk for HIV & STI Acquisition in Durban, South Africa

Background

Women in sub-Saharan
Africa continue to be at greater risk for HIV acquisition than men.
Concurrency, viz. multiple sexual partnerships that overlap over time, has been
studied as a possible risk factor for HIV transmission. The aim of this study
was to identify predictors of perceived male partner concurrency among sexually
active, HIV negative women.

Methods

Socio-demographic and
behavioural data from women enrolled in a biomedical HIV prevention clinical
trial were assessed in relation to perceived male partner concurrency using the
Chi squared test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was performed
to assess the independent predictors of perceived male partner concurrency.
Kaplan–Meier survival estimates were obtained for HIV and STI incidence in
relation to male partner concurrency. A Cox Proportional Hazards model was used
to assess the association between perceived male partner concurrency and HIV
and STI incidence.

Results

The results revealed
that 29 % of women reported their male partners to be in concurrent sexual
relationships, 22 % reported partners that were not engaging in
concurrency, whilst 49 % reported not knowing their partners concurrency
status. Older women, having never married, experiencing economic abuse, and
women reporting individual concurrency, were found to be significant predictors
of perceived male partner concurrency in the studied population. Perceived male
partner concurrency was not found to be a significantly associated with
incident HIV and STI infections in this analysis.

Conclusions

The study provides
insight into predictors of perceived male partner concurrency among women at
high risk for STI and HIV acquisition. These results may inform the design of
behavioural and biomedical interventions, to address the role of multiple
sexual partnerships in HIV prevention.

Below: Kaplan-Meier survival curve for HIV incidence versus partner concurrency status, among a cohort of women in Durban, South Africa

Below: Kaplan-Meier survival curve for STI incidence versus partner concurrency status, among a cohort of women in Durban, South Africa